


The Sacrifice

by ArielSakura



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Sacrifice, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Ultimate Sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:15:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24525220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArielSakura/pseuds/ArielSakura
Summary: Harry makes the ultimate sacrifice to send Hermione back in time. Can she end the war before it affects their time? Can she save those she loves?
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Remus Lupin
Comments: 12
Kudos: 217





	The Sacrifice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheDolphinAnimagus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDolphinAnimagus/gifts).



> Happy Birthday to my dear friend TheDolphinAnimagus!!! I hope you have an awesome day!!! I was gonna write you something entirely fluffy and then this happened. Still, I really hope you enjoy it!!! :D
> 
> Big thanks to noxsoulmate, sonnenflower and LunaRavenclaw for reading through and betaing on short notice!!!

Hermione was restless. She had no reason to be, everything was fine. Everything was going to be okay. But still, she couldn’t help but pace up and down the corridor. Sirius - when he wasn’t flirting with every comely witch or wizard that walked past - was just as full of nervous energy as she was. At least, if the bouncing knee and drumming fingers were anything to go by. 

She was reasonably sure Remus was as anxious as the rest of them, for he hadn’t turned a page in the book on his knee in an hour and ten minutes. Hermione knew this because she had been casting a tempus spell every other minute. 

Reminded of that, she flicked her wand again. It had been three hours and twenty-two minutes since the door had been shut in their faces. Was it supposed to take this long? What was happening?

Somehow, Hermione didn’t think Lily would appreciate it if she cast a transparency spell on the door. No matter how close they had become over the past few years. 

And wasn’t that something? Hermione Granger. Best friends with Lily Potter. It certainly was not something Hermione had ever thought achievable. But that was before… 

Before Hermione had lost everything and then accomplished the impossible. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Are you sure about this?” she asked quietly. 

“Of course I’m sure. I’m the ‘Chosen One,’ aren’t I?” Harry tried to joke. 

“But…” 

Harry stopped her with a hand over her mouth, “Hermione, we both know this is my destiny. This me at least. This is my power. My part in all of this. You have to do the rest.” 

“I don’t know if I can, not without you, not without R-”

She cut herself off. Ron’s death had been so hard on both of them. His absence from their side was like a missing limb. 

Harry swallowed hard, “You know what he’d say if he was here?” She looked back up to meet his eyes. “He’d say you’re being daft. That you’re the best of us. He’d tell us he would be the one to forget stuff, and that I’d be an emotional mess and that - out of all of us - you’ve got the best chance at making this work.”

Hermione nodded and rolled her lips together tightly. That was certainly something Ron would say. Never one for tact, their Ron. 

“I’m never going to see you again,” she whispered. 

Harry smiled sadly at her, “yeah you will.”

She punched his arm, “you know what I mean. This you. This Harry, my best friend Harry.”

Harry pulled her into his arms and she went willingly, hugging him tightly. He didn’t need to say the words. She knew the truth. Even if they didn’t do this. She wasn’t going to have any more time with him this way or another. 

Voldemort knew where they were. 

They had received a patronus just hours ago. They had to do this and it had to be now - or the world was lost forever and everyone they loved would have died for nothing. Remus, when he had died protecting Hermione from Greyback. Sirius, when he had died just a few months ago, defending Harry at the Ministry. Ron. Ginny. All their siblings as well as their parents, Hermione’s  _ own  _ parents. Neville, Luna, Seamus, Dean, even Kingsley, Alastor and Dumbledore.  _ Everyone _ . All the way back to James and Lily. No one was left, just the two of them.

This was their chance. Their only hope. 

And it would take Harry’s life to do it. 

Hermione would truly be alone once the ritual had taken hold. Whether it worked or not. 

Harry’s arms began to loosen and tears spilled down Hermione’s cheeks as they parted. 

“Come on,” he said, “It’s now or never.” 

Hermione nodded and picked up her battered, beaded bag. Gingerly, she knelt in the middle of the circle they had drawn and Harry began to walk around her, chanting softly, Hermione felt the magic begin to swirl in the space between them, lifting her hair and tugging at her clothes. 

The last thing she heard was Harry’s soft, yet strong, “Love you, ‘Mione.”

The last thing she saw was him falling to the ground before she was yanked into swirling darkness. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

She slammed into the ground, thankful that the carpet absorbed at least some of the impact. She groaned even as there was a sudden clamouring of exclamations around her. 

“What the FUCK?!”

“Who  _ is  _ that?” 

“How did she even get in here?”

“Peter, didn’t you lock the door?”

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“Where did she come from?”

“Is she okay?”

“WHAT. THE. FUCK?!”

She felt a hand on her shoulder and a soft voice spoke to her. “Are you alright, miss?”

Pulling herself up slowly, body smarting all over, Hermione knelt and lifted her face to see worried amber eyes of Remus Lupin peering at her. A frown furrowed his unmarked brow and his face was smooth and unscarred. Knowing that there would be differences and actually seeing them were two different things. 

“It worked,” she whispered. 

“What worked?” asked someone nearby, “did you seriously just apparate into Hogwarts?”

Hermione looked to the unfamiliar voice and her breath caught. James Potter stood before her. Sixteen-year-old James Fleamont Potter. 

She could hear Remus’ voice by her ear, something about ‘Hogwarts: a History’. But her mind was frozen on the face in front of her. So like Harry’s, they could have been identical twins except for the eyes. Her own began to well up as the realisation swamped her. 

It had worked. 

Her Harry was gone. 

“Seriously, what the fuck is going on here?”

“Oh for Merlin’s  _ sake,  _ Padfoot,” James sighed dramatically, glancing to his side, “can you stop with the hysterics?”

Hermione followed his gaze to see a young Sirius Black kneeling on his bed and gripping one of the supporting posts. His hair was long and tied into a ponytail atop his head. His face looked as though it did naught but smile and there was a heavy sadness missing from his eyes. 

She had arrived, precisely where they had cast the spell. In the Gryffindor boys dormitories.

“Hysterical? Me? As if.”

“What’s your name?” Remus asked, pulling Hermione’s watery gaze back to him. 

“Hermione, I’m Hermoine Granger,” she cleared her throat and brushed away her tears as she pulled herself to her feet. “I need to see the Headmaster.” 

“Dumbledore?” 

Hermione nodded. 

“Hang on,” Sirius said, climbing down from his bed, dawning realisation in his voice, “you don’t go here.”

“Which is precisely why I need to see Dumbledore, Sir-?”

She caught herself in time. 

Only to have Sirius smirk at her.

“No need to call me Sir, love. It’s Black,” he added as he held his hand out to her, “Sirius Black.”

She nodded, and turned to Remus with an arched brow. 

“Remus Lupin, this is James Potter,” he said, gesturing to his right where James lifted a hand in an awkward wave. There was a shuffling sound to her left. She turned, knowing who she would find even as Remus introduced him. “And this is our other friend, Peter Pettigrew.”

“Er, hi. Um… here.”

Pettigrew thrust a cup toward her and Hermione could see it was full of water. She eyed it warily. But took it eventually. Pettigrew was only sixteen, he wouldn’t poison her. Not here. Not now. 

“Thank you,” she said, forcing herself to take a small swallow before setting the cup aside. 

“The Headmaster?” she asked Remus. 

“I’ll take you.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Her talk with Dumbledore had lasted a good long while, and Remus had remained at her side the entire time. Hermione had produced false documents that could not be proven as such, for her identity, and when asked how she arrived, she merely put it down to a portkey malfunction. Eventually, dinnertime rolled around and Hermoine was led to the Great Hall. Remus left her standing by the staff table and headed to the Gryffindor table. 

Hermione tried not to be overwhelmed by the strange familiarity the Hall generated within her. 

“We have a late arrival this year,” Dumbledore announced to the curious hall. “We shall sort Miss Granger into the sixth year before we eat.” 

He produced the Sorting Hat with a flick of his wand and she was very promptly sorted into Gryffindor. She nodded at Dumbledore and made her way to the cheering table, grateful when Remus waved to her to join him and his friends. She took a seat next to him and looked up into vivid green eyes. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

It had taken quite some getting used to, Hermione was in the same dorm as she had been in her time, but she was sleeping in Lavender’s bed. It seemed that before, Hermione had actually slept in the very bed Lily Potter once had. 

She grew close to Lily during her time at Hogwarts, providing a listening ear for when she wanted to vent about James, though it quickly turned to gushing when they finally became a couple. 

It was then that Hermione grew closer to Remus. They had been friendly before. Always studying together, but with the other most studious of their year off snogging, it left a lot of time for just the two of them. It was Remus who figured out Hermione wasn’t exactly what she seemed to be and he had confronted her one night about it. 

“How are you so familiar with the library?” he asked her when she came back from the stacks with the book they needed for their paper. 

Hermione froze, “Um, I dunno, maybe it just reminds me of my old library? A lot of the books are in similar places.” 

“That’s rubbish.”

“Excuse me?” Hermione gasped, surprised at his unusual use of language. 

“I said, that’s rubbish.”

Hermione mentally calculated in her head. It was only two nights until the full moon and Remus was always a little more on edge before it. She didn’t say anything as he stared her down. 

Finally, he continued in a low voice. “You were completely unfazed by McGonagall’s animagus transformation in class the other day. You know the library like the back of your hand. Hell, you even know how to bribe Madame Pince! You didn’t need a guide to the Hospital Wing that time you cut your hand in Charms, though you had only been here for two weeks. And occasionally you have a hot chocolate before bed! Either you know where the kitchens are or you’re making it in your dorm. But Lily, Dorcas, and Alice never have one. And when you first arrived, you said ‘it worked.’ So. What. The. Hell.”

Hermione swallowed. Remus knew there was something she was hiding. He would likely never guess what it was. She didn’t have to tell him. Merlin, she could probably obliviate him. But the truth was... she was lonely. So lonely, that the people around her didn’t know who she really was. That these people she was beginning to care about in new ways weren’t privy to the things she had to hide. Maybe, maybe she could just tell Remus. Just one person. 

He knew what it was like to have a secret, he would keep hers. She was sure of it. 

“‘Mione,” he said softly and she flinched hard. 

No-one called her that. She never allowed anyone to call her that. Except for Harry and Ron. Her two best friends in the entire world. Her two best friends that were gone unless she saved them. She couldn’t do it on her own. 

“Don’t,” she said, her voice thick. “Don’t call me that.”

Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Remus nod and he rested a hand on her shoulder. Briskly, she brushed at her eyes with her fingertips and then began packing up their things. 

“We can talk, but not here,” she said as he was about to object. 

Hastily, he stood and helped her and they left the library together. 

She led him up several flights of stairs, climbing all the way to the seventh floor but away from their usual path to Gryffindor Tower. Coming to a familiar corridor, she began to pace in front of a blank space of wall. 

Remus was about to speak again when the door appeared and she pulled him inside to a small room with two armchairs in front of a fire. 

“Before I tell you about me,” she started, squashing down the horrid feeling that she was about to blackmail Remus, not only a man she respected, a man that had given his life for hers, but also her friend. “Let me start with a few things I know about you.”

Remus stiffened but she ignored it. 

“I know that in two nights' time, you will go down to the Whomping Willow. You will press a knot at the base of the tree and take a secret tunnel to the Shrieking Shack where you will transform into a werewolf. I know that James, Sirius, and  _ Peter _ , will come down in their animagus forms and run with you in the Forbidden Forest.” 

Remus was growing paler by the second and his hands were white-knuckled as they gripped the arms of the chair he sat in. 

“ _ How- _ ”

“I found out in my third year of Hogwarts, when you were a Professor there. I found out in 1993.”

Remus stared at her and she could see his mind working furiously to compute the information she had just given him. She sat quietly, waiting for him to come to terms with it. 

Finally, his muscles relaxed minutely and he spoke. 

“You’re a time traveller? How is that possible?”

Hermione swallowed down the lump in her throat. “My best friend, he- he was prophesied to be the downfall of Voldemort.” Remus flinched at the name but she paid him no heed. “He understood better than anyone ever has, even me, the power of sacrifice. He gave his life to power a spell to send me here to fix the future.”

Remus amber eyes searched hers, looking for any hint that she was lying. She did nothing except let the weight of the things she had seen and felt show in her eyes. Remus didn’t say anything in response; he just pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. Allowing her to break down for the first time since she had come to the past and take comfort from him. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

They hadn’t spoken of it that night, but eventually, Hermione had told him everything to do with the war. There were some things she kept to herself, like the identities of her best friends, only giving him their first names. She couldn’t bring herself to tell him about Peter. Not when Peter had yet to take the mark. But she was vigilant and she checked often, for as soon as he did, she would expose him. Part of her hoped that maybe she could change things enough that he would never take the mark. Though if he didn’t in this timeline, she would make sure Sirius’ suggestion for a secret keeper never came to pass. 

Time progressed, and there was little Hermione could do for the time being. She sent anonymous owls to the DMLE with information pertaining to murders and Death Eaters as her meticulous notes told her too. Often, she was able to prevent murders and attacks from happening. Other times, she wasn’t. 

Those other times, she would retreat to the Room of Requirement and pour over her notes, outlining plan upon plan until Remus would find and join her. Offering her a shoulder to cry on and helping her revise her decisions. 

Eventually, their time at Hogwarts was over. They graduated. Hermione with full NEWTs, and she enrolled in the Auror Corps alongside James and Sirius. And in the Order of the Phoenix too. 

It became easier then, to act proactively. Remus often at her side, she had fought vocally against Dumbledore’s decision to send Remus into the werewolf groups. Stating that the voice of a lone wolf would never sway a pack. The werewolves were a lost cause for now. They could only hope to bring them to their side through political maneuvers. 

With her knowledge, she and Remus were a team to be reckoned with. They saved countless order members. The Bones’, the McKinnon’s, and Gideon and Fabian Prewett. The hug Hermione had received from Molly for that had very nearly made her cry and she had quickly excused herself from the room. 

With the Bones safe, there was more fightback in the Wizengamot. Voldemort found it difficult to gain a foothold there and Hermione and Remus were free to hunt Horcruxes. 

They had confronted Regulus last and brought him to the flat Hermione and Remus platonically shared. Showing him the evidence of what they had done. He nearly wept with relief when he realised they would help him. They were beginning to plan when Sirius had unexpectedly shown up. It had taken a lot of shouting and well-timed ‘ _ petrificus totalus’ _ but eventually, the brothers were reconciled and Hermione was beginning to feel hopeful that this might work after all. 

The four of them went to the cave, bringing broomsticks to cross the water, and with two to drink the potion, its effects were easier to manage and heal. 

With Voldemort now mortal, they merely had to wait for him to plan his next attack and with Regulus as their informer, both the DMLE and the members from the Order of the Phoenix were there to greet him.

After the battle, Remus pulled her into his arms and kissed her fiercely. Much to her delight and embarrassment, due largely to the wolf whistles from their friends.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hermione was pulled from her thoughts by the clearing of a throat, she spun in the pristine hallway and was met with the lime green robes of a St Mungo’s Healer. 

“You can come in now,” she said, hurriedly stepping aside as three eager adults tried to cram through the doorway at once. Hermione drew up short at the sight, her hands flying to her mouth as she took in the perfect picture of a very pleased James and a very tired Lily. For there, bundled in her arms, was a baby with a shock of black hair. 

“Everyone,” James said, pride heavy in his voice, “we’d like you to meet our son.” 

They all moved forward slowly, and Sirius began to make grabby hands but Lily stilled him with a look. 

“His godmother is first if you don’t mind.”

Sirius huffed, thoroughly put out but he allowed Hermione to take a shaky step forward. 

“You mean… are you sure?”

“Am I sure I want my best friend to be around to make sure this lot doesn't get carried away? Of course I’m sure, Hermione. Now come here and hold your godson.” 

Hermione stepped up, and gently took the precious bundle from Lily’s arms, her eyes roving over his face. She felt Remus and Sirius peering over her shoulders at him. 

“What did you name him?” Remus asked. 

“Harry,” Lily said with a fond smile, “Harry James Potter.”

She felt Remus stiffen beside her, and he made an enquiring noise. Unable to answer him, but knowing he had figured it out anyway, Hermione let out a little sob and a single tear rolled down her cheek to land on Harry’s forehead. Right where a scar would now never form. Harry screwed up his cheeks at the sensation and stretched in her arms. 

He was safe. They were all safe and her first and best friend would not grow up unloved. He would not have to fight a war that wasn’t even his. He would not have to give up his life again. 

He could live. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed!!  
> Love and muses!!
> 
> ArielSakura  
> xox


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